Cory Care Questions

[blainep]

I'm planning to redo one of my larger tanks, I haven't been happy with it for quite a while.

The plan is to go with a sand subsrate, hard to kill plants, some rock and driftwood decorations.

Water conditions will be very hard water, lots of carbonate hardness, temps should be about 77 deg f.

I'd like to add a few Corys to the mix when things are set up but I'm unsure if these water conditions would fit Corys.

Does anyone know what the preferred water conditions for Corys are ? Are some varieties more suited for hard water or for the tank temp ?

I'm not worried about spawning them, there's more than enough breeding going on already here. :err:

I just want them to be comfortable here.

[Melody]

Most of the common Cory's are very adaptable. You may run into spawning problems but that's about it. Your driftwood should help anyway. If its anything that isn't <ahem> 'mainstream' (Bronze, Pepper, Albino, etc) or is wild-caught, some research of their individual parameter ranges would be in order.

You could reserve some of Mr. Mykiss' Longfin Bronze that he is planning to bring in. :yes:

[madattiver]

I keep many species of corys in our very hard Saskatoon water and have no problems.. even with spawning them here I have no problems. There seems to be some sort of misconception that corys do not do well in hard water and will not spawn. I proved this theory wrong so many times, I have stopped counting. I have even spawned several wild caught corys in my water.

I think you should be fine to pick pretty much any type of cory you want for your tank.

[Melody]

Most of the Cory's I've heard of adapt easily enough, but there are ornery ones out there. If someone like Ian has had to baby some to spawn them, you know they're tough at times...lol.

Captive bred are going to be easier, especially if they're sourced from hard water in the first place. Wild-caughts, once acclimated, may or may not need more to spawn, especially the first time. Adaptability will be a deciding factor there too.

Soft 'rain water' is just one of the triggers, the concept is replicating breeding season. There's more than one way to do that. For some, just the food and extra water changes do the trick, others don't need any change at all. Still others want the full show.

I agree that they have probably been catered to more than necessary. I think that's because they're placed into a tank and the standard spawning triggers are employed to get things started, whether they're necessary or not. Then those breeders tell how they spawned the species and include the method.

There's often more to any creature thriving than hard or soft water too. You can have hard water with driftwood in it and the Cory's still benefit whether the tests read below a certain GH or not, for example. Some hard water has more calcium, etc etc etc. Then there's things we just don't know but assume & act on. Mollies, for example, thrive in water rich in Calcium. However, I do know breeders with very soft water who have big, beautiful Mollies. My friend collects some in soft water ditches. We just don't know everything that we think we know.:confused:

We'll know more if we keep sharing experiences though, and that is what is most useful about forums.:smile:

[madattiver]

:cheers: well said...

[blainep]

Sounds good.
I just wanted to be reasonably sure that they would be comfortable in the conditions I'm planning to set up.

Thanks To All ! :thumbup: